Dark Side
by pandaforever
Summary: This is the day when you choose your Guardian. They can be heroes or fictional characters. They're good people. Well, most of the time. They're the good characters in their stories. Except for this time.


August 26th, Guardian Day. This is the day we choose the person that will become our Guardian for life. The day that we leave our families to live with our Guardian.

Your Guardian can be whomever you want, including fictional characters. On the first day of 7th grade, you have to choose your Guardian. It takes the whole school day for most people. You have to call to your Guardian, and if they respond, they have accepted the responsibility. Once you have your Guardian, there is no going back. You can't change your Guardian. Of course, there are horror stories about people's Guardians not responding to their call, and they end up homeless and wandering. Your Guardian must pledge to protect you no matter what, never play tricks on you, and never, ever abandon you.

It takes great strength to call your Guardian for the first time, so the school has made up for this by having a lot of sofas and chairs for people to dose in until 10:00 pm, when your family comes to say goodbye to you. It really does take that long-starting at 6:00 am-to get everybody's Guardians worked out. Your family will bring your supplies so that you have a few things of your own. After that, many students just stay at school to sleep. The teachers leave to go home, but now your home is with your Guardian, so you don't go home with your family. It's very possible that you will never see them again.

"Are you ready, Aldrnari?" My Mother asks, bobby-pinning my braid in place. "Yes." I tell her. It's a free-dress day at school, so I'm wearing a bright, tangerine orange, red, and yellow gypsy-top that reminds me of flames and a pair of jeans-also tangerine orange, as well as my favorite pair of boots-reddish brown with buckles on the sides and a zipper on the back. You can ride in these clothes, which is a plus, because that's how I'm getting to school today. "Good. Dad's tacking up Azul. You should go get your school supplies and put it in his saddlebags." She says with a smile.

I step out into the open air. I shiver-it's freezing at the moment in the hills-it's 4:30 am-and stare out at the town spreading out below me. It's hard sometimes to believe that I will have to leave this life. However, I know that it's what I must do.

My Dad leads Azul out from the barn, and I put my school stuff into his saddlebags. After mounting, I thank my Dad and ride off to school. We ride past stores and abandoned buildings, past homes and offices. Finally, at about 5:00am, we arrive at school. I walk Azul to paddock out back. He has to be kept separate, as he is a stallion and we don't want him killing anyone's horse.

Walking now to my locker, I see one of my friends, talking to some people in the upper grades. They used to be our 8th grade "Big Sisters" when we were in 6th grade. They got their Guardians earlier, and seem to be attempting to be trying to calm her down. She's deathly pale. "Hey! You know, my Guardian didn't respond until my 4th try! You'll be fine." One of them tells her. My friend, thankfully, looks a little bit better.

I will be the 50th person to choose my Guardian. It is alphabetical by last name, so I will be near the end. You choose your Guardian on the Circle, in front of all of the Middle School. High School has normal classes today. You are not required to watch the ceremony, but most people cheer on their friends and classmates.

The bell across the Circle starts tolling, signaling the beginning of the ceremony. The Head of Middle School gives a speech, telling us about the history of the ceremony and how important the Guardians are to our civilization. When she is finished, the choosing starts. The person walks to the center of the circle and signals that she is ready. Then, she calls to the person she wants to be her Guardian. It takes a few tries, but eventually, the person responds. Each cuts a small vein in their arm and their blood commingles. That person now has a Guardian. Everyone watching cheers.

When one of my friends gets their Guardian, I cheer along with everyone else. Harry Styles. Harry Potter. Percy Jackson. "Ten". Finally, I hear my name and walk towards the center of the Circle. I nod to show that I'm ready.

What happens next shocked everybody, myself included. I only have to ask once.

"Aldrnari." I hear my name spoken behind me. I turn around and see my Mother, Father, horses, and dachshund, Kala. "We came to say goodbye." My Mother says. She hugs me, and then my Father does too. "We thought that you would want to keep your horses. As for Kala, I don't think that she would survive without you." My Father states, smiling, and hands me Kala. "Would you mind introducing us to your new Guardian?" My Mother asks me. "Sounds good!" I smile, and lead them through the crowd to where my Guardian is standing with Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and Ten (yes, that's a nickname). All of them are laughing as Ten tells a story-something about Rose Tyler's Mother. My Guardian looks up and spies us. "Excuse me." He states and walks towards us with a polite smile on his face.

My Mom stares at my new Guardian. She stares at me. She stares back at my Guardian. Her mouth drops open. I know the reason why. I smile and slip away to my friends. Looking over my sholder, I see my Mom start to talk to my Guardian. I turn around towards my friends and say, with a sly smile, "Well. Who's next?"

I sit up with a start. Ugh. I must have fallen asleep. I hear a small sound, so small that I think that I'm imagining it. Then I hear it again. It's Kala. She's shaking like a leaf. I scoot over to where she's lying and pick her up and set her in my lap. She's still shaking. Kala never shakes. At least, not like this. I wonder what on earth would cause her to do this.

Suddenly, I hear it. A long, thin, haunting wail. It's a sound that I'd recognize anywhere. And it's coming from the paddocks.

I jump up and start running at top speed towards the paddocks. Another wail. Quickly followed by a human scream. Not fast enough. Not fast enough! Faster, faster, faster! I tell myself. After what seems like an eternity, I reach the paddocks.

One of my vatn hestr stallions has something in his mouth. Actually, not a something, more of a someone. I jump into the paddock and whack the stallion. Hard. He drops the person and gallops off. I run to the person and hear something that reminds me of breathing. I drop to the ground. But not quickly enough. Teeth sink deep into my flesh.

The stallion drags me to my feet and starts to shake me like a ragdoll. I aim a kick at the stallion's head and hit my target. He drops me. I roll and scramble to my feet, reaching for my knife that I keep in my boot for exactly this reason. I don't like to do it, but at the moment I really don't have a choice. I throw the knife and close my eyes. I don't need them to tell me if I hit the stallion or not. He doesn't even know what hit him. He just drops down to the ground.

My arm hurts like nothing that most people have felt before. It's hard to explain what it feels like. This is not my first time experiencing this kind of pain, though. When you have vatn hestr, you will get bitten at least once. That's just how it works. It feels like you're being electrocuted where you've been bitten, like there's electricity spreading its fingers out from the wound.

I stumble over to where the person is lying. When I turn her onto her back, I see that she's still breathing. Barely. And then my heart misses a beat. It's Kari. "Don't worry. You'll do fine. Just remember to breathe." That's what she told my friends this morning as she stood watching the ceremony. What on earth am I going to tell Freja?

I'll have to figure it out when I see her. The world is starting to spin around me, so I think that it would be best to be heading back. Walking is hard, and I trip several times. However, I make sure not to drop Kari. She would surely die if I did. So I keep on walking.

Finally, I make it to the door of the building. I knock on the door, but everyone is asleep, except for Kala. She comes racing towards the door and starts barking, her entire red body shaking because of how hard she's wagging her tail. Under normal conditions, I would tell her to be quiet. But I don't. I just wait. "KALA! BE QUIET!" Somebody yells. I believe that it's Freja, but I can't tell for sure, because my senses are not working correctly. Kala keeps on barking. I hear a groan. "Kala. Seriously?" the person asks. Still, she walks over to the door and opens it. I see a patch of red. Definitely Freja. " Ali, what the," But I don't hear the rest. The world goes black.


End file.
